Macabre facts: Arizona v. Scotland

As regular readers will know, I have (I suppose) a macabre side which takes a sad interest in human beastliness, tragedy and the cold reduction of life's sufferings to largely inscrutable statistics. I also have a friend who lives and conducts his research in Arizona - in Tuscon in fact - and I dimly recalled pub discussions in Edinburgh a few years ago, in the Bow Bar to be precise, during which he afforded an insight or two into the general character of that arid State. The respective populations of Scotland and Arizona were roughly equated. In point of fact, for a scientist he was decidedly sloppy with the odd one and a half million souls or so. According to United States Census Bureau estimates, the State's population numbered around 6,595,778 in 2009. Scottish demographic statisticians put our own population at 5,194,000 in their end of June 2009 estimates, some 1,401,778 fewer than the Grand Canyon State. Last week's horrid news that six people, including American Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford, had been shot by a gun-wielding homicidalist made me wonder -  in terms of murder statistics, just how far do Scotland and Arizona diverge? The question seemed to promise some gloomy interest. Its only sensible to introduce a couple of caveats. Accurate comparisons of different jurisdictions can be problematic. Definitions differ, as can forms of data collection. I've no intention of attempting any detailed comparisons to put a squirm of glee in the belly of a statistician. Being humbly inquisitive, I'm primarily interested in the total data recorded in the respective jurisdictions. The differences are striking.

In the middle of December last year, I detailed some facts and figures from published Scottish  homicide statistics for 2009, including potentially surprising statistics about the gender of victims, the fatal sites where the unfortunates perished and the murderous objects which all too often, all too many drink-addled Scots employed to destroy each other. I sought out the pertinent Arizonian statistics, to make a quick comparison. My researches brought me to the Arizona Department of Public Safety website which confirmed that the State recorded some 324 homicides in 2009, down from 404 in 2008. This compares to 79 homicide victims in Scotland last year. Firearms were implicated in 60.6% of Arizonian homicides. On page thirty two, the Arizonian report indicates the distribution of deaths by the instrument that brought them about. In 2009, 165 homicides by handgun were recorded (50.5% of the total), 10 by rifle and a further 10 by shotgun (together 6.2% of the state total) while 13 more people were killed by firearms of an unclassified character. The  non-firearm weapon which caused the most deaths were "knifes or cutting instruments", which killed 60 people in the State of Arizona (18.3% of the total murdered in that year). This compares to only two Scottish deaths as a result of gunshot wounds in 2009 (amounting to 2.5% of the Scottish homicides that year).

The report also included a rather bizarre representation of "Arizona crime clock" on page twenty, with associated stopwatch device for the sluggish of imagination. The report reassuringly advises its readers that the device should be "read with care", under the grim contextualisation that Arizona experiences one murder every 27 hours and 2 minutes, a forcible rape every 5 hours and 31 minutes and one arson every 4 hours and 59 minutes.  And so on.  Reminded me of a comic tale I heard a few years back about the earnest Bono, who thought his Glaswegian audience might appreciate some serious-minded social commentary along with their singsong patter. Click, click went Bono's thumb, a grave staccato. Censoriously, he announced to the Glaswegian crowd "Every time I click my fingers, a baby in Africa dies..." The statutory wag in the audience, no doubt paid by Glasgow Cooncil to keep up the city's reputation for quick-minded drollery, immediately piped up - "Well stop clicking your fucking fingers then!" Gas. At. Peep.

I digress.  

 

In brief, in 2009: Arizona: 6,595,778 people, 198 gun deaths. Scotland: 5,194,00 people, 2 gun deaths.